


A Hand to Hold

by StoryTellingDoc



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drabble, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-07 11:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3172378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryTellingDoc/pseuds/StoryTellingDoc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title:  A Hand to Hold 1/?</p>
<p>Rating: Teen (for now)</p>
<p>Characters: Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Tentoo, Rose Tyler, Bad Wolf</p>
<p>Genre:  Multi-chapter, Drabble, Fluff, Romance, Angst (but with a happy ending)</p>
<p>Summary: Being a touch telepath has never been anything more than a useful skill to the Doctor, but when he meets a nineteen year old shop girl in London, he discovers that it is a gateway to a connection he never could have imagined.</p>
<p>Disclaimer:  I do not own anything affiliated to Doctor Who, including (but not exclusive to) the Doctor, Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness, and the TARDIS.  This was written for entertainment purposes only.</p>
<p>Note: I’m going to be writing this in pieces, so I have no idea how many chapters it will be.  I’m just going to let it talk to me…☺</p>
    </blockquote>





	A Hand to Hold

**Author's Note:**

> Title: A Hand to Hold 1/?
> 
> Rating: Teen (for now)
> 
> Characters: Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Tentoo, Rose Tyler, Bad Wolf
> 
> Genre: Multi-chapter, Drabble, Fluff, Romance, Angst (but with a happy ending)
> 
> Summary: Being a touch telepath has never been anything more than a useful skill to the Doctor, but when he meets a nineteen year old shop girl in London, he discovers that it is a gateway to a connection he never could have imagined.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated to Doctor Who, including (but not exclusive to) the Doctor, Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness, and the TARDIS. This was written for entertainment purposes only.
> 
> Note: I’m going to be writing this in pieces, so I have no idea how many chapters it will be. I’m just going to let it talk to me…☺

It took the Doctor a very long while before he could make contact with anyone. The time war took a toll on his body and his mind, and the idea of letting another soul into his life only to lose them was too much to bear. So, as he traveled the stars, visiting civilizations old and new, he kept a polite distance from the people he met, excusing himself just when things got a little too close. He had stopped counting the days since his last companion by the time he landed in the London that day, drawn to the unusual energy signatures coming out of Henrik’s department store. He had snuck down into the basement without being seen, and was just about to scan the mannequins stored below ground when the plastic figures moved towards something in the next room. He followed them down the hallway, keeping watch to make sure they did not take note of his presence, and spotted a petite human girl with blonde hair, cowering against the wall.  
The Doctor contemplated leaving…he really did. After all, what was the point of saving one human when he needed to solve the mystery and save hundreds? He had sacrificed a part of himself when he stole the Moment, so it didn’t seem all that much of a stretch to leave her behind. However, as he looked into her face, her amber colored eyes wide with fear and her body bracing itself instinctively, he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave. So, heaving a quick sigh, he slide along the wall quickly just as she closed her eyes, grabbed her hand, and spoke one word to her.

“Run!”

Even as he was guiding her away from danger, the warmth of her small hand in his stirred a dormant part of his mind. That familiar tingle rolling up his arm as her mind was opened to him was startling; he almost forgot to catalog their path up to the surface so he could return to deal with the Autons. He felt the fear radiating through her body, but was surprised to sense a sliver of excitement running alongside it. He didn’t give himself much time to process what that could mean; instead, he dropped her off outside with a “nice to meet you” and a “run for your life.” He went back inside to finish the job without another thought. 

That evening, when he returned to the TARDIS and began running diagnostics on the data he collected with his trusty sonic screwdriver, the Doctor found his mind drawn back to the image of the pink and yellow human he encountered. _Rose,_ he thought, _she said her name was Rose_. As his console announced the results of the analysis, he shook his head in amused disappointment at himself for getting distracted by someone so young. He ran his hand across the edge of the coral.

“Now, let’s see what we’ve got. What do you say, ole girl?”

The next day, the Doctor went in search of a stray signal that had stretched from Henrik into an estate nearby. He glanced around at the pale exterior walls, the bland coloring occasionally broken up by graffiti, before determining the direction that he needed to go. His long legs bypassed every other step of the stairs as he climbed up to the apartment he was seeking, and just as he got onto his hands and knees to peer through the cat flap built into the door, it flew open. He popped up in time to come face-to-face with the same attractive – _did he say attractive?!_ – young woman from the night before. Momentarily panicked, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“What are you doing here?”

He nearly flinched at her irritated but curious stare as she replied.

“I live here. What are you doing here?”

Without preamble, he talked his way into the apartment so that he could search for the stray signal in the home. He managed to get away from the girl’s mother with only a cringe and a shudder after she came onto him, and turned his attention to the rest of the rooms. His blue eyes lit up when he discovered the dismembered arm in the bin, but found himself the victim of its attack before he could deflect it. Luckily for him, Rose quickly came to the rescue when she realized he was not playing around, landing them both on the floor, her soft body covering his. As she shuffled off of him in a hurry, the Doctor’s agile mind catalogued every curve, casually noting the way she seemed to fit against him as if she was made for that purpose. His eyes widened in alarm at the train of thought his brain took, and he immediately redirected himself towards something much safer to consider and ran out of the door. Strangely enough, Rose came after him, and after escaping into the TARDIS, he took off, fully intending on never seeing her again.

Once inside, he attempted to set coordinates to his next location, but his time ship wouldn’t budge. In fact, it almost seemed as though his TARDIS was accusing him of cowardice at watching him leave the human girl behind. 

“I was not running away from her,” he said aloud in his gruff Northern voice. “I just needed to find the Nestene Consciousness. I have to stop it before the Autons destroy London.”

He let out a sound of denial as she intoned that Rose would be a good companion to him. Shaking his head, he rounded the console and pulled the screen towards him, staring intently at the map he pulled up. The TARDIS wouldn’t let it go; she continued to bring up images of Rose as she went to someone’s home with a young man who stays behind in the car. 

“What’s it to me what she’s up to?” He switched off the surveillance footage. “We’ve got work to do.”

Seconds later, he released a groan as the screen flickered back to life above Rose’s car. This time, however, the Doctor spotted something very concerning with her friend, and gave in when his ship insisted on checking up on her. 

“Fine, but only because it seems the Autons are focused on her.”

He chose to ignore the TARDIS as she insinuated they were not the only ones fascinated by her. Instead, he landed them outside the restaurant he saw the pair enter and talked his way into the kitchen, where he grabbed a bottle of wine before heading to their table. All hell broke loose soon after, and the next thing he knew, they were standing inside the TARDIS, her big eyes boring holes into his as he explained he was an alien. Rose surprised him yet again by accepting his origins with barely a blink of the eye, and they were soon off in search of the Nestene Consciousness. He was running hand in hand with Rose across Westminster bridge, his hearts pounding with excitement and the joy of discovery, when the Doctor felt the surge of something both familiar and foreign. As before, the contact with her skin gave the Doctor access to Rose’s emotions as they jogged, and he didn’t have to look over at her grinning face to know she was enjoying the unexpected adventure in her life. This time, however, he felt some of his own enthusiasm traveling towards her, and he had to clamp down on it before his guard was completely down. 

His concern over how easily she was able to gain access to his inner thoughts was placed to the side as he tried to deal with the Nestene Consciousness, barely escaping with his life only after Rose saved his life once more by knowing his captors in with the anti-plastic serum. When things had calmed down, and they were safely back at the estates, the Doctor was stunned by his own extension of an invite to come aboard. He didn’t want the complication of looking after someone else. Still, he felt a sense of rejection when she reluctantly refused his offer, and his pride forced him to bid her goodbye and close the door. He could feel his time ship protest as he entered coordinates and started her up, but he barked at her in frustration.

“She said no! You know I don’t ask twice. I offered her the stars, and she decided to stay back with that useless idiot boyfriend of hers.”

The TARDIS groaned, but he stood his ground, guiding them into an orbit around the Earth. 

“I’m not going back,” he grumbled even as his resolve began to melt away. “She isn’t worth the time.”

Even he expected to feel the laughter coming off his ship at his words. The reality is, he knew he was sunk. In the few moments he spent with her, the Doctor had already come to an inalienable truth. What he felt there, running across the bridge with Rose, was the feeling of home. Even through all the excitement and the fear, he knew that there was something very special about this human girl. He didn’t want to admit it to himself earlier, but when he told her of how he could feel the world spinning on its axis, he didn’t let on that with their hands connected, he felt more still than he had ever felt in his entire 900 year old existence. This realization was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time, and all he wanted to do was run as far away from her as possible. Still, it didn’t take more than 24 hours of living in the emptiness of his hearts before he changed his mind. 

“For once, please land where I want you to,” he said half to himself as he sprinted to the control room and plugged in the coordinates. 

Despite the snark he sensed from his time ship, for once they seemed in full agreement. They touched down with ease onto the darkened street, and he held his breath until he was able to confirm he was in the right time and place. Pausing for the briefest moment as he sealed both their fates, he threw the door open with a nonchalant expression.

“By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?”


End file.
